It is possible to increase the polishing speed by
painting the pitch lap with hot beeswax. Beeswax is available at hobby
stores or candle making stores. At one time mirror makers used honeycomb
to 'polish out' their mirrors. Once a lap has been painted with beeswax
and then eventually pressed and trimmed you no longer have a lap that
polishes at the same speed over its entire surface. This is bad news for
someone trying to do the final bit of correction on their mirror. Some
people carefully scrape the surface of their pitch lap with a razor
blade and press again before final polishing.

Polishing the rose lap center over center it is easy to
see how ripples might be produced near the mirror edge. I am reasonably
sure there is a way to use the rose lap properly but I gave up on it
before discovering the secret. If you know how let me know!